The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Prunus avium and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘SPC342’. ‘SPC342’ is a new cultivar of sweet cherry tree grown for fruit production.
The new cultivar of Prunus arose from a breeding program conducted by the Inventor at a research center in Summerland, BC, Canada with the goal of developing new cultivars of cherry tree that would have improvements to the fruit appearance, fruit taste, fruit flesh texture, tree quality, productivity and precocity.
‘SPC342’ originated as a seedling that arose from seed planted from open pollination of Prunus avium ‘Lapins’ (not patented). ‘SPC342’ was selected as a single unique tree in 2000 from amongst the resulting seedlings.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by chip budding and grafted onto Prunus avium rootstock by the Inventor in Summerland, BC, Canada in 2003. Asexual propagation by chip budding and grafting has determined that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.